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Caballeros Vulpones
The '''Equitus Asutis are a loyalist Space Marine Chapter with roots dating back to the Horus Heresy era, although it was founded in a very later date. They are a non-''Codex Astartes'' compliant Chapter, as they are organized into Brotherhoods, rather than the standard Company, the fighting formations of specialised warfare skills. During each campaign the members of each Brotherhood create a different force, depending on the situation and commanded by a Captain. Each Brotherhood is overseen by a Grand Master, where the Chapter is commanded by a Supreme Grand Master. There are eleven Brotherhoods. They are the overseers of the Vulpecula Sector in the northern reaches of the Eastern Fringe of the Ultima Segmentum. The Vulpecula Sector compromises of only two inhabitable systems - the Terminus System and the Polean System. Chapter History The Horus Heresy After the battle of Istvaan V Drop Site massacre, a small team composed of Raven Guard, Iron Hands, Salamanders and limited number of Imperial Guard and loyalist members of the Traitor Legions, managed to get to 3 frigates and escape. The Warp Storms were too severe for the force to steer for Terra and all the Navigators, except one, died from the strain. Lost in the Warp The remaining ships followed the one with the living astropath, who was on the verge of death. They encountered for the first time the Chaos daemons and they sustained heavy losses, till they managed to learn how to hold the entities at bay. Seeing that the situation may become hopeless they devised a plan to contact someone loyal. They welded two of the ships into one. The works took more than 5 years, with constant battling warp-entities. When the new ship took shape, they discarded the one main warp engine and they exploded it. The two frigates were just on the edge of the blast, as the Warp energy expanded much faster than in the Materium world. The blast worked as an emergency flare and in some months another lost frigate of the Space Wolves came into aid. This frigate came from a time after the Horus Heresy and they informed the ragtag force of what had happened, the Battle of Terra, the Astronomican, the Traitor Legions, the Dark Mechanicus and the loss of many Primarchs into the Warp, chasing the Traitors, their Primarch Leman Russ and his 13th Company included. Their encounters with daemons and traitor Space Marines were not diminished the next centuries and they forced to use weapons from the fallen enemies. The Chaplains and the Wolf Priest were always guiding the dwindling numbers. The Space Hulk Purge The 8th Black Crusade During the 8th Black Crusade, the Warp current belched out the Space Hulk over a ravaged Forge World. Most of its systems have been repaired already by Techpriests and Techmarines and there was no danger for drifting back in the Warp. They managed to contact the Imperium. At first the Imperial Navy suspected the worse and a company of Blood Angels and an Inquisitor were dispatched to investigate. When they arrived, the encountered a heavy battle, between the Dark Mechanicus and an unknown Space Marine force. They took the advantage of the battle chaos to board the Space Hulk unnoticed. They did not expected to find a battle ready station, habitated by a loyalist Space Marines force and at first they were very suspicious for them. The unknown Space Marines seemed out of place and could not believe that it was the 37th Millenia, but recognised the Heraldry of the Sigilite in the Icon of the Inquisition, and the power it symbolised. When the Space Marines ended the battle victorious, the Inquisitor decided that the Forge World was lost to Chaos and ordered its Exterminatus. Then the Space Hulk was guided to orbit Titan, where the full force of the Chapter (Space Marines, serfs, servitors and a handful of humans) was scrutinised for taint by Chaos for almost 600 years. The Long Walk Vulpecula Sector Notable Battles and Campaigns *'The 8th Black Crusade (999.M37)' - A battleforce corresponding to a Space Marine Chapter, emerges above a Forge World. A heavy battle ensued with the Chaos forces of the Dark Mechanicus. At the end of the battle, the world was declared tainted by Chaos and an Exterminatus was issued. *'Grim Harvest (666.M38)' - When the Space Hulks from the Lost Crusade appear all over sectors near Terra, the main fleet of Equitus Austis persuades the Inquisition and the Grey Knights to help them. Their wins over the overwhelming number of mutants and chaos abominations aboard the Space Hulks surprise even the Grey Knights. These actions end the scrutiny that the Chapter endured for almost 600 years over Titan. *'Hive Fleet Tiamet (780.M38)' - *'Polean System (104.M39)' - *'Hive Fleet Behemoth (746.M41)' - *'Badab War (901-913.M41)' - *'Hive Fleet Moloch (900+.M41)' - *'The Purging of Jollana (913.M41)' - A vanguard force of Equitus Austis infiltrates Jollana and tries to secure and evacuate a sector of the planet that holds ancient and arcane knowledge. At the end, the main battle was fought on the other side of the planet, between Grey Knights and Chaos Daemons. *'Hive Fleet Kraken (993.M41)' - Chapter Organization Chapter Combat Doctrine Despite that the initial force of the Chapter was organised from a variety of Legions with very different combat doctrines, their limited numbers under overwhelming number of enemies and limited supplies, made them employ infiltration and guerilla warfare tactics with fast attack elements. The roots of the Raven Guard and the ease which can replace their lost limbs with artificial ones, rooted from Iron Hands, are the most prevalent to this day. The Chapter venerates the Legionnaires that organised first their Chapter force and have close ties with the original Chapters. The names of the loyalist members from the Traitor Legions are known only by the most seniors members of the Chapter. Chapter Beliefs As the roots of the Equitus Austis were planted by Space Marines of the original Legions, the Chapter follows the Imperial Truth as it was declared by the Emperor of Mankind. They believe that the Emperor is an extremely powerful being, the rightful ruler of all mankind and the perfect image of humanity, but no matter how supreme, still a human being. They venerate him as a fatherly figure, a spiritual guide and as a person of great wisdom. As a result of (painful) lessons learned during their 3000 years in the Warp Storms, they believe that, although there are creatures named as daemons or gods, there is not such a thing, just names civilizations give to them. The Universe is a cruel place to be and it just is. This cold-thought approach helped them overcome the taints of Chaos and stay on the path of enlightenment. These beliefs makes their relationship between the Ecclesiarchy and the Ordo Hereticus strained, at best. If not the Chapter's knowledge of the Warp and the purging of Space Hulks, they would have destroyed the survivors in the first place. The Arhats of the Chapter, analogous to the standard Astartes Chaplain, are the spiritual and philosophical guides of Equitus Austis. Lest they sense that a brother is to fall into Chaos, something that has not happened so far, the brother has to do a suicide ritual before its soul is consumed by the Warp, so that he can still be at the side of the Emperor when the End Times come. Chapter Geneseed Unknown, its secrets lost when the Apothecaries and Tech Priests perished in an explosion during battling daemons of Tzeentch. Chapter Recruitment At first the ragtag force was recruiting from the humans of the flotilla. These were imperial citizens or Imperial Guard that had stranded in ships or planets in the Warp during the Horus Heresy. During the Long Walk they recruited from worlds encountered or from the Black Ships. The stamps of the Inquisition was enough for the Chapter to persuade the crews of the Black Ships. Their hard won knowledge, make the Chapter to recruit only individuals with psyker potential. When their Space Hulk reached the far fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy, deep into Saggitarius Arm, they intercepted a plead for help from an unknown Imperial World. When they reached, they have found the Polean System, which was under attack from a Necron flotilla. They managed to triumph and they declared the system as their domain. The Polean System is habitat to sturdy men, as it has harsh conditions in the Deathworlds of the main planets and in the space mining. Equitus Austis recruit now from them. There is a special process to become a Space Marine of the Chapter. There is almost no need to choose from rough candidates, the life in Polean System does it by itself. But for an aspirant to become recruited, he has to live for one year in the harsh conditions of Polean Prime and its moon, Túnis. The aspirants have to battle beasts and the environments of toxic jungles, deadly seas, subzero temperatures and scorching deserts. After they should live one more year in the asteroid mining colonies, were they should live in the vacuum of space and dangerous space mining. This does not make them only acquainted with a variety of survival situations but during their long journey they should gather the materials needed to create their basic weaponry. In their last year they visit the Forge World of Hephaestus, where they should forge the equipment by themselves. Only after this they can be recruited by the Chapter. Before the basic processes to make them Space Marines, they have to pass the last test. They have to be daemonhosts and overcome the daemon within. The surviving recruits start their life as Scouts. Many perish during the 6 year process, almost an Imperial Guard regiment each year, but it is a risk that the citizens are willing to make. The whole process is made so to mimic the Warp years and the Long Walk that Equitus Austis made after their official founding. The psychic potential of the Poleans is the norm, as almost all manifest such powers. An evolution that was made from a survival point, as they had no other means of communicating between their sparse settlements and their distance from the galactic core. Chapter Appearance Chapter Homeworld The Fortress-Monastery of Equitus Austis is the Space Hulk named "Whœnua Parakøre". It orbits the dead world of Terminus Prime. The endless wastes are used as training grounds for the Chapter. On board the Fortress Monastery, there are many relics, that date before the M31, as the Warp was not empty of such items. Most of the surviving tech-equipment has been returned to their parent Chapters, but there are still many that stay in the space of the Fortress Monastery. In the 6000 years of their habitation of the Space Hulk, they have converted it in a formidable base. The strained and twisted corridors of the derelicts have been blasted and made to vast alleyways, that house various uses. Large libraries and training areas have been created and there is always a place where someone can find a refuge and meditate. In the underbelly of the Space Hulk is the spaceport, where a relatively large flotilla can be found. Chapter Fleet The Chapter has 3 Battle Barges. One of them, The Ragnarok, is moving all the time. *''Rau i Roto i te Hau'' (Battleship, Unknown Class) - The flagship of the fleet of Equitus Austis. Despite her size and age (early M26), she is among the fastest ships of the fleet. She has been in numerous encounters and her speed, along her fearsome armoury, has saved a great deal of imperial citizens. *'The Ragnarok (Battle-Barge)' - This Battle-Barge houses almost all the members of the XI Brotherhood of Equitus Austis, along with 2 regiments of Poleans. Its purpose is to locate Space Hulks throughout the galaxy and purge them, or destroy them. There are many times that it has worked with other vessels of Ordo Xenos and has seen extensive use in various Hive Fleets incursions. She is one of the oldest ships in the fleet, dating back to M28 and her Machine Spirit is thirsty for Tyranid blood, as her sister ship was the one that crashed in the Space Hulk that later became the Fortress Monastery of the Chapter. *Hasámi'' (Battle-Barge) - This Battle-Barge was found as a derelict, drifting in space, near the galactic core. She was orbiting dangerously close to a blue hyper-giant star. It took the power of both Battle-Barges, at the time, along with 5 strike cruisers to haul her from the gravity well of the giant star. She is the bigger ship in the fleet, almost twice the size of a normal Battle-Barge. Date of construction is unknown but her Machine Spirit burns as hot as the star she was drifting for so many centuries. Strike Cruisers: * one * two * three - destroyed during Hive Fleet Behemoth Battle * four (Vanguard Cruiser Class) - destroyed during Hive Fleet Behemoth battle * five (Vanguard Cruiser Class) - destroyed during Hive Fleet Kraken battle Nova Frigates (10) Gladius Frigates (20), 10 of them are converted to Rapid Strike configuration Specialised Craft: *'Void Ship' - Although the name suggests every ship capable of spaceflight, the Void Ship Class of Equitus Austis is the perfect ship for entering stealthy enemy territory. They are somewhat comparable to Null Ships, in that they are impossible to detect even with psychic means and can mask their signature completely. *'Cor Vitae Class' - This handful of very specialised ships, named by the first of their class, are a version of Void Ship Class. They are designed to mask their signature as Tyranid vessels and at least two times they have destroyed the main ships of the Hive Mind, halting the progress of tendrils of Tyranid invasions. Externally they look as tyranid vessels, but it is an illusion, Tyranid synthflesh covering the frame of a standard Void Ship Class cruiser. They take a lot of time to manufacture, as the carapace and the synthflesh have to grow with the ship, and the Machine Spirit reacts to the pseudo-organic matter as her own skin. *'Pluto Class' - Another specialised version of the Void Ship Class. These vessels are designed to infiltrate Eldar and Dark Eldar space. They make a valuable tool in the arsenal of the Deathwatch, most of them always on loan to Ordo Xenos. At least 6 of them have been destroyed during the invasion of Hive Fleet Kraken. Chapter Relics Gallery Category:Morfeas333 Category:23rd Founding Category:Unknown Geneseed